Code Samples for a Job Interview
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What everybody else said. Don't try to "cover up" the fact that you've never used GitHub until now - the full history, with dates, is available, so they'll be able to tell you've hurriedly thrown something together for them to look at. I'd have no problem telling any potential employer I don't have a GitHub account. Or that I used to have one at a previous employer...but that code is theirs.
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TNCaver wrote:
unlike probably most here, I no longer do programming as a hobby on my own time
Er hum, cough. never. I only do it if someone is paying. Cant stand bloody computers.
TNCaver wrote:
proprietary code I've written for my current employer
You should still keep your own library of code, so you can cut and paste it into new projects, then charge the client full whack for doing sod all. Use that.
Munchies_Matt wrote:
I only do it if someone is paying
Me too. Coding at home would be like a dentist going home every night and practicing on his family and friends. I don't deal with clients. I have never worked for a code-for-hire shop (and don't plan to start now). I code for the needs of the company I work for, their web site, their intranet, their windows services, and now, their Salesforce implementation (yuck, and one of many reasons I'm leaving after 17 years here).
If you think 'goto' is evil, try writing an Assembly program without JMP.
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I guess being honest and saying you don't have any non-proprietary code to show them, but that you've spent the last 15 years writing code about 8 hours a day so that you probably know what you're doing, is out of the question? :rolleyes: I should say I know people who did that too and they are horrible programmers X|
Best, Sander Continuous Integration, Delivery, and Deployment arrgh.js - Bringing LINQ to JavaScript Object-Oriented Programming in C# Succinctly
That's probably what I'll end up doing, though. I'm not a horrible programmer, I don't think I would have lasted 30 years in the biz if I wasn't at least decent at it (15 years is just how long I've been doing .NET).
If you think 'goto' is evil, try writing an Assembly program without JMP.
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Tell them what you have told us. If you are really keen on getting the job, you could also suggest that they set you a small project that would take no longer than a day to code then send back the resulting code to them. I say this because I really dislike coding tests in interviews and have always done really well when I am set something in advance that I can then be questioned about during interview.
“That which can be asserted without evidence, can be dismissed without evidence.”
― Christopher Hitchens
GuyThiebaut wrote:
you could also suggest that they set you a small project that would take no longer than a day to code
I like that idea. I'll float it at them and see what happens.
If you think 'goto' is evil, try writing an Assembly program without JMP.
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Simply point them to the articles you have written for CP. Or tell them that you sell your code - how much are they willing to pay for it?
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I've received an email from a prospective employer inviting me to set up a job interview. A note at the end requests a link to my GitHub code repo or sample code/projects prior to the interview. I don't have a personal GitHub repo or code samples because, unlike probably most here, I no longer do programming as a hobby on my own time. Everything I've done in the last 15 years that the interviewer would be interested in is proprietary code I've written for my current employer, and I don't feel comfortable sharing that outside the company, even though the two industries are not related by any stretch of the imagination, so they wouldn't be able to benefit. What would you do in this situation? Rewrite some of your code to remove any hints of its purpose or value to your employer? Write new code?
If you think 'goto' is evil, try writing an Assembly program without JMP.
I have a "portfolio" that includes code I've written for my employer and from my outside projects. I don't have any qualms about sharing bits and pieces of code from my employer, as it is only intended to illustrate my programming style.
Software Zen:
delete this; -
I've received an email from a prospective employer inviting me to set up a job interview. A note at the end requests a link to my GitHub code repo or sample code/projects prior to the interview. I don't have a personal GitHub repo or code samples because, unlike probably most here, I no longer do programming as a hobby on my own time. Everything I've done in the last 15 years that the interviewer would be interested in is proprietary code I've written for my current employer, and I don't feel comfortable sharing that outside the company, even though the two industries are not related by any stretch of the imagination, so they wouldn't be able to benefit. What would you do in this situation? Rewrite some of your code to remove any hints of its purpose or value to your employer? Write new code?
If you think 'goto' is evil, try writing an Assembly program without JMP.
I too do not have a GIT (yuck) repository. However, I do share my CP profile if someone wants. Apart from this I have a library of things that I simply copy and paste to applications I work with. For instance, encryption utilities, hashing utilities, basic REST API scaffolding. If they are hell bent and you too are for the job, I might just dump it all somewhere and share.
"It is easy to decipher extraterrestrial signals after deciphering Javascript and VB6 themselves.", ISanti[^]
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I've received an email from a prospective employer inviting me to set up a job interview. A note at the end requests a link to my GitHub code repo or sample code/projects prior to the interview. I don't have a personal GitHub repo or code samples because, unlike probably most here, I no longer do programming as a hobby on my own time. Everything I've done in the last 15 years that the interviewer would be interested in is proprietary code I've written for my current employer, and I don't feel comfortable sharing that outside the company, even though the two industries are not related by any stretch of the imagination, so they wouldn't be able to benefit. What would you do in this situation? Rewrite some of your code to remove any hints of its purpose or value to your employer? Write new code?
If you think 'goto' is evil, try writing an Assembly program without JMP.
Tell them you would show them after they showed you some examples of people they hired in their hobby time. If you have to prove how much you like your job outside of work hours, then HR should at least do the same for you.
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I've received an email from a prospective employer inviting me to set up a job interview. A note at the end requests a link to my GitHub code repo or sample code/projects prior to the interview. I don't have a personal GitHub repo or code samples because, unlike probably most here, I no longer do programming as a hobby on my own time. Everything I've done in the last 15 years that the interviewer would be interested in is proprietary code I've written for my current employer, and I don't feel comfortable sharing that outside the company, even though the two industries are not related by any stretch of the imagination, so they wouldn't be able to benefit. What would you do in this situation? Rewrite some of your code to remove any hints of its purpose or value to your employer? Write new code?
If you think 'goto' is evil, try writing an Assembly program without JMP.
I recently was asked to sit a sit a proprietary test at hackerrank [^]. I didn’t get around to it yet but I found that the training section has some good, short challenges that might be a good way of demonstrating your coding style and approach without the tedium of running your own project. Good luck!
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I've received an email from a prospective employer inviting me to set up a job interview. A note at the end requests a link to my GitHub code repo or sample code/projects prior to the interview. I don't have a personal GitHub repo or code samples because, unlike probably most here, I no longer do programming as a hobby on my own time. Everything I've done in the last 15 years that the interviewer would be interested in is proprietary code I've written for my current employer, and I don't feel comfortable sharing that outside the company, even though the two industries are not related by any stretch of the imagination, so they wouldn't be able to benefit. What would you do in this situation? Rewrite some of your code to remove any hints of its purpose or value to your employer? Write new code?
If you think 'goto' is evil, try writing an Assembly program without JMP.
I've tried rewriting some of my code, but ended up telling the people that interviewed me that all of my work is done for a client and that I'm not able to share it with 3rd party. To my surprise, they were happy enough with my answer and told me that even they don't have it. Keep in mind that for this to work, you will have to make good impression in the rest of the interview process.
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Simply point them to the articles you have written for CP. Or tell them that you sell your code - how much are they willing to pay for it?
I did that,:thumbsup: got the job!:cool:
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I've received an email from a prospective employer inviting me to set up a job interview. A note at the end requests a link to my GitHub code repo or sample code/projects prior to the interview. I don't have a personal GitHub repo or code samples because, unlike probably most here, I no longer do programming as a hobby on my own time. Everything I've done in the last 15 years that the interviewer would be interested in is proprietary code I've written for my current employer, and I don't feel comfortable sharing that outside the company, even though the two industries are not related by any stretch of the imagination, so they wouldn't be able to benefit. What would you do in this situation? Rewrite some of your code to remove any hints of its purpose or value to your employer? Write new code?
If you think 'goto' is evil, try writing an Assembly program without JMP.
In this case I think I would * try to find code from my current job unrelated to business logic, more like library utilities, print it, and say that you cannot leave it with them * talk to the interviewer on the phone about my predicament. Chances are, you are up against hordes of kids with github repos galore. It could happen that they are spoiled with easily comparable candidates... I was 52 when I got my current job, I think without my github I wouldnt be here.
... such stuff as dreams are made on
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I've received an email from a prospective employer inviting me to set up a job interview. A note at the end requests a link to my GitHub code repo or sample code/projects prior to the interview. I don't have a personal GitHub repo or code samples because, unlike probably most here, I no longer do programming as a hobby on my own time. Everything I've done in the last 15 years that the interviewer would be interested in is proprietary code I've written for my current employer, and I don't feel comfortable sharing that outside the company, even though the two industries are not related by any stretch of the imagination, so they wouldn't be able to benefit. What would you do in this situation? Rewrite some of your code to remove any hints of its purpose or value to your employer? Write new code?
If you think 'goto' is evil, try writing an Assembly program without JMP.
- Create a repo on GitHub 2) Upload the following project
public class Program
{
static void Main(string[] args)
{
Console.WriteLine("Hello, world!");
}
}- Include it in your application 4) Profit
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I've received an email from a prospective employer inviting me to set up a job interview. A note at the end requests a link to my GitHub code repo or sample code/projects prior to the interview. I don't have a personal GitHub repo or code samples because, unlike probably most here, I no longer do programming as a hobby on my own time. Everything I've done in the last 15 years that the interviewer would be interested in is proprietary code I've written for my current employer, and I don't feel comfortable sharing that outside the company, even though the two industries are not related by any stretch of the imagination, so they wouldn't be able to benefit. What would you do in this situation? Rewrite some of your code to remove any hints of its purpose or value to your employer? Write new code?
If you think 'goto' is evil, try writing an Assembly program without JMP.
Do not, under any circumstances, give any code for a previous employer. Doing that is asking for trouble and may even be a trick question to see if you are reliable security person. If they cannot assess your abilities from the interview ,this does not speak highly for the company you applied to. If the interview went without anyone fron the SW Dept. being present is also a bad indicator. all in all, probably a bad employer.
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Munchies_Matt wrote:
I only do it if someone is paying
Me too. Coding at home would be like a dentist going home every night and practicing on his family and friends. I don't deal with clients. I have never worked for a code-for-hire shop (and don't plan to start now). I code for the needs of the company I work for, their web site, their intranet, their windows services, and now, their Salesforce implementation (yuck, and one of many reasons I'm leaving after 17 years here).
If you think 'goto' is evil, try writing an Assembly program without JMP.
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That's probably what I'll end up doing, though. I'm not a horrible programmer, I don't think I would have lasted 30 years in the biz if I wasn't at least decent at it (15 years is just how long I've been doing .NET).
If you think 'goto' is evil, try writing an Assembly program without JMP.
Unless the potential hire has been self-employed, I think most employers are going to find that there aren't too many people who have any code samples that they can legally show to anyone. Here's a thought: maybe it's an ethics test. If you actually do show them code that you wrote for your current employer then you fail.
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I've received an email from a prospective employer inviting me to set up a job interview. A note at the end requests a link to my GitHub code repo or sample code/projects prior to the interview. I don't have a personal GitHub repo or code samples because, unlike probably most here, I no longer do programming as a hobby on my own time. Everything I've done in the last 15 years that the interviewer would be interested in is proprietary code I've written for my current employer, and I don't feel comfortable sharing that outside the company, even though the two industries are not related by any stretch of the imagination, so they wouldn't be able to benefit. What would you do in this situation? Rewrite some of your code to remove any hints of its purpose or value to your employer? Write new code?
If you think 'goto' is evil, try writing an Assembly program without JMP.
TNCaver wrote:
Everything I've done in the last 15 years that the interviewer would be interested in is proprietary code I've written for my current employer, and I don't feel comfortable sharing that outside the company
Put it on a stick, show it during the interview. No copies, they don't need the entire code-base to judge your skills - a minute worth of browsing would do. Then ask them if you should keep their code on a public github :)
Bastard Programmer from Hell :suss: If you can't read my code, try converting it here[^]
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I've received an email from a prospective employer inviting me to set up a job interview. A note at the end requests a link to my GitHub code repo or sample code/projects prior to the interview. I don't have a personal GitHub repo or code samples because, unlike probably most here, I no longer do programming as a hobby on my own time. Everything I've done in the last 15 years that the interviewer would be interested in is proprietary code I've written for my current employer, and I don't feel comfortable sharing that outside the company, even though the two industries are not related by any stretch of the imagination, so they wouldn't be able to benefit. What would you do in this situation? Rewrite some of your code to remove any hints of its purpose or value to your employer? Write new code?
If you think 'goto' is evil, try writing an Assembly program without JMP.
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I've received an email from a prospective employer inviting me to set up a job interview. A note at the end requests a link to my GitHub code repo or sample code/projects prior to the interview. I don't have a personal GitHub repo or code samples because, unlike probably most here, I no longer do programming as a hobby on my own time. Everything I've done in the last 15 years that the interviewer would be interested in is proprietary code I've written for my current employer, and I don't feel comfortable sharing that outside the company, even though the two industries are not related by any stretch of the imagination, so they wouldn't be able to benefit. What would you do in this situation? Rewrite some of your code to remove any hints of its purpose or value to your employer? Write new code?
If you think 'goto' is evil, try writing an Assembly program without JMP.
Heh... I'm looking at this site and see the following at the bottom of the thread list.
Quote:
Last Visit: 31-Dec-99 19:00 Last Update: 8-Feb-18 3:29
With that, the forum code also cutoff the "La" of "Last" when I block quoted and I had to correct it. Perhaps if people spent a little more of their own time learning the trade that pays them, these types of silly mistakes wouldn't happen. And that brings us back to the subject of the original post. While I do whole heartedly agree that your job shouldn't be your entire life (especially if you have kids or are married), you DO need to spend some time learning your trade and that's what employers want to see because they're tired of people that can't even get a bloody date right. While I also agree that you shouldn't have to keep up a web-presence or list your code on the likes of Git-Hub, you should be prepared for an interview especially if you have 15 years experience like the OP does. It will also show them good common sense and respect on your part if you tell them that you respect the proprietary nature of a previous company's code but don't let that be a barrier to showing your stuff. After all, you're on an interview to determine if you have the skills to do your job. And, no... the stuff you put on your resume isn't enough. That's just the proverbial "knock on the door". Too many people either exaggerate their knowledge or flat out lie on resumes. During one run of interviews of both experience web developers (with good knowledge of T-SQL) and DBAs (all claimed at least 10 years of experience on their resumes), 20 out of 22 couldn't answer the simple question of how to get the current date and time. I had originally started asking the question as a simple ice-breaker question to help the candidates relax. Little did I know it was going to me the litmus test for how the rest of the interview was going to go. Out of that same batch of people, only 1 DBA knew anything about how to do native backups and restores (and no... I do NOT ask for the precise syntax). One of the people also claimed to be an expert T-SQL performance tuner (again, with more than 10 years experience). When I asked him about clustered indexes (and, no, I didn't make this up. It's just too silly to even think of such a thing) he told me that he never worked with them because he had never worked with clustered servers. Employers are sick and tired of wasting time on people that don't actually have
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I've received an email from a prospective employer inviting me to set up a job interview. A note at the end requests a link to my GitHub code repo or sample code/projects prior to the interview. I don't have a personal GitHub repo or code samples because, unlike probably most here, I no longer do programming as a hobby on my own time. Everything I've done in the last 15 years that the interviewer would be interested in is proprietary code I've written for my current employer, and I don't feel comfortable sharing that outside the company, even though the two industries are not related by any stretch of the imagination, so they wouldn't be able to benefit. What would you do in this situation? Rewrite some of your code to remove any hints of its purpose or value to your employer? Write new code?
If you think 'goto' is evil, try writing an Assembly program without JMP.
I have always had a code portfolio that shows examples of my code and documentation. All of it comes from code I have written and various places I have worked and none of it reveals company information. Just pull a method from some class that shows how you have solved a problem such as transposing data from object to another or filling a list box. It should be the kinds of things you would do regardless of where you work.
